Add and remove custom color swatches

You can save solid colors, gradients, and image fills as custom swatches. Applying custom colors guarantees consistency throughout your document because you know that everywhere you apply the color it will be the same.

To create a new custom swatch

On the Properties panel, in the Appearance category, define the color, gradient, or image fill that you want to save as a swatch.

Open the Swatches gallery by clicking the More Swatches button.

Click the name of the swatch category into which you want to add your new swatch.

At the bottom of the Swatches gallery, click the Add Swatch to Library button.

Your new color will be immediately available in the list of custom colors.

Tip:

You can replace one or more swatches in the Favorites section of the Swatches gallery by dragging a swatch from the Categories section to the Favorites section. When you let go of the mouse button, the swatch under the pointer is replaced by the new swatch.

To add an image fill swatch

Follow the previous steps on how to create a new custom swatch. At the bottom of the Swatches gallery, click the Swatch options icon, and click Add Image Swatch.

You can also remove swatches from the Swatch gallery.

To delete a swatch

In the Swatches gallery, select the swatch you want to delete, and then, at the bottom of the gallery, click the Delete Swatch from Library button.

Deleting a custom color does not affect any objects in your document that use that color.

Caution:

If you delete swatches from the built-in swatch categories and want to restore the default sets, click Restore Default Libraries from the Swatch options drop-down list at the bottom of the Swatches gallery. However, notice that this deletes any custom swatches and custom swatch sets that you have created. Therefore, you might consider exporting your custom sets before you restore the default libraries. For more information, see Import and export custom colors.